Tavern Talk
by Technica
Summary: It's amazing to think back and realise how much of their story occurred in one tavern or another.  A potentially ongoing or just quick one-shot story about M!Hawke and Isabela.


**Disclaimer:** If I owned Dragon Age I wouldn't have let the game end like that. I'd either give it some closure or be an utter bitch and thrown in something utterly taunting for a cliffhanger after the credits roll. Bioware is your safe middle ground.

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><p>They'd managed to find a small roadside tavern somewhere along the rough highway from Kirkwall to Ostwick; far enough that they felt momentarily safe from any repercussions that would eventually come from taking part in a revolution.<p>

The owner of the Slippery Ferret had looked shocked at their entrance, probably much more used to the occasional local farmer or travelling merchant, certainly not the odd mix that the companions made.

All things considered they had to admit that when it came down to it they looked like they were ready for and had indeed, just come from, a fight. Which was the truth; they'd barely stopped running since Cullen had given them the chance, and they'd been grimy before they'd even left Kirkwall, the road hadn't done much to help their situation.

Hawke had limped tiredly towards the slack-jawed old man who was tending the bar, pretending he hadn't noticed the way barmaids had frozen in their parody of cleaning the tavern floor.

His face was still splattered with dried blood and sweat cutting rivulets through the dirt, the Champion of Kirkwall had tried out his most disarming smile along with a pouch that seemed to clink enough to erase any man's fears and had quietly asked for rooms for the night and if they could provide the weary travellers with a good meal, warm beds and most importantly hot baths.

And that's how it went. They vanished off to their rooms to recover from their ordeals, one by one trickling down into the tavern's common room to lounge out by the fire, slowly easing down from the tension they'd all been holding in over surprisingly good drinks and easy camaraderie... or at least the majority of them.

When Varric entered the common room finally feeling refreshed, he was amused to note the way Bethany's face lit up and then fell back into a sort of worried impatience when he descended the stairs.

"Sunshine, have the years really taken your affection from me so much that seeing me would warrant such an expression?" He teased, taking his a seat alongside Fenris, nodding as the elf picked up his deck of cards and dealt him into the ongoing game between Aveline, Merrill and himself.

Bethany smiled at his use of her old pet name. "No, of course not Varric. I was just hoping to see my brother, I think he's injured from fighting Meredith. He was limping earlier."

Not taking his eyes off his cards Fenris made an odd noise in his throat as he failed to contain the tiny snicker and small smirk on his otherwise expressionless face, "If he's not limping now he certainly will be by the morning."

"Fenris." Aveline warned as she placed two cards down, forever playing the group's mother-hen.

Varric leaned back and watched as Bethany showed how the years had changed her; her gaze flickering suspiciously from the former slave's almost smile to the way Aveline was carefully avoiding eye contact and then she met the dwarf's amused stare and raised a single eyebrow, her own amber eyes alight with comprehension.

"Really?" She muttered with a fond disbelief, shaking her head and smiling tiredly.

"Oh don't worry Bethany, Isabela isn't down here either. I'm sure if Hawke wasn't feeling well she would take care of him." Merrill chirped up, so preoccupied with her own cards she didn't notice the incredulous looks she was receiving.

"I agree." Fenris added drily, "Isabela is no doubt taking care of Hawke as we speak."

Aveline's cards dropped to the table in favour of being able to cover her face with her hands, her shoulders quivering oddly as she took deep steadying breaths to avoid something between laughing and crying.

"Well." Bethany carefully selected her words, "That is comforting to know. Thank you Merrill."

The cheery Dalish Elf beamed pure sunshine and joy across the table and presented her winning cards for all to see. "Diamondback!"

Thankfully the barmaid chose that time to begin serving out the food they'd ordered, watching the group with wide-eyed interest as if she expected them to do something fantastically amazing akin to fighting off a sudden dragon invasion, the sight of an elvish woman raking in a small pile of coppers and the grumbling groans of hunger escaping five stomachs seemed to humanise them a little too much for whatever wild flights of fancy she'd concocted and she left looking disappointed.

For the next few minutes the companions could focus on nothing but the steaming plates of roasted meat, crumbling cheeses and freshly baked bread still warm from the ovens, not to mention the accompanying platter of local fruits.

Munching happily on a shiny apple, Merrill suddenly stopped with a look of shame, rising from her seat. "Oh! We didn't wait for Hawke and Isabela, d'ya think perhaps I should go get them?"

"No!"

The blood mage cocked her head sideways at the sudden outburst from her friends, allowing Aveline to gently pull her back down.

"No, Merrill." the guard captain explained in a much more even tone, patting the elf's slim shoulders in an attempt to cover her own embarrassment, "I'm sure when they're done...whatever it is they're doing, they'll..."

"Come up for air?" Fenris suggested helpfully, quietly enjoying to see the Ferelden woman try to tactfully handle the situation.

"Come. Down. For. Food." Aveline replied through gritted teeth.

Ever the storyteller Varric waited patiently, sipping at his ale and watching as the young mage across from him stirred at her food and took her time realising her lines.

"So." Bethany finally began, "This thing, my brother and Isabela, how long has it been going on?"

"Years."

"A month."

"Oh a few hours I'd guess." Merrill concluded, then paused again. "I'm missing something here aren't I?"

"I think what she means Daisy, is how long have Hawke and Rivaini been in a relationship? And sadly the answer is all of the above." Varric settled his elbows on the table, idly twisting his mug back and forth. "The problem we quickly discovered is that they're complete idiots; both of them so blind they couldn't have told you the sky was blue. I think they only just started to catch on in the last month or so... but I take it I wasn't the only one to catch their little moment earlier, before the fighting really started?"

Waiting a moment for his friends to nod in agreement, Varric chuckled, shaking his head with genuine affection. "If I had to bet all the gold in Thedas, I would put it on our pirate finally admitting what we've all known for years. Those two are officially hopeless."

And as if on cue the Champion of Kirkwall stumbled down the common room stairs, favouring one leg more than the other as he limped hurriedly towards their table.

Hawke cut an interesting picture; dressed only in loose pants with his hair unruly and suspiciously sweaty, one of his arms bore a hastily done bandage over a long but shallow cut and the flesh across his ribs had already begun to bruise a viciously mottled purple from an unlucky hit landed by one of those blight blasted animated statues.

All of this seemed to mean nothing to the man because he couldn't seem to shake off the lopsided smile that had taken over his face.

"Dinner?" He queried, not really paying attention to whether anyone answered as he simply stole his sister's empty plate and begun shovelling food onto it, taking great care not to drop anything as he shifted his arms to accommodate another plate, snagging a few peaches for good measure before turning his attention to fastidiously sniffing at the bottles of drink the group had bought to accompany their meal, finally settling on two of the brews and tucking them under his arm.

He all but jumped as Bethany poked at his injured ribs, shifting her offending finger so it jabbed threateningly in the air in front of his face as he stepped back awkwardly trying to keep his pillaged feast from tumbling from his arms.

"You big dummy! You _are_ injured." The youngest of the remaining members of the Hawke family scolded with a fierceness that would have done their mother proud, "It could be serious, let me look."

Edging further away from his sister, Hawke shook his head, still smiling that ridiculously enviable grin. "No. It's fine Bethany. It can keep till tomorrow."

With that he turned and limped quickly back towards the stairs, halting at the bottom and looked back at them with a thoughtful expression. "Not too early though, after breakfast... or maybe lunch."

Then he vanished from sight, leaving the common room in an amused silence.

Varric caught Bethany's eye and shared an exasperated smile, spreading his hands out in acceptance. "What did I say Sunshine? Hopeless."

"Oh!" Merrill squeaked, causing them fours sets of eyes to shift their attention to her.

Cheeks flushing a furious red as she clasped her hands together and favoured them all with a tiny embarrassed grin. "I just worked it out."

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> I struggled a bit with putting this up here. I wrote this after I finished the game and thought "Well I know where Hawke is! He's tied up in the Captain's Quarter's of Isabela's ship. Duh." The problem being that if I want to draw out my Hawke's character and his story then this would probably be the note I ended it on. Anything I write after this is working backwards. But there is no guarantee that I'll get to write more so I figured what the hell I'll just see where it goes and deal with it.  
>Thanks for reading. (Any errors you can see please point them out for me, I am constantly sleep deprived and need all the help I can get.)<p> 


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